Two of the gun stores that I did business with when I lived in NY were swept up in an "assault weapon" sting based on them mostly bragging about how easily NY compliant guns (very similar to CA rules) could be converted to non-compliant.

Read it because we are very quick to talk about how closely we run to the edge of the law here, and it would be very easy for the L.A. DA to pull something like this. Remember that you NEVER recommend breaking the law, especially to strangers in the gun shop o "impress them". Many of these guys were "gun shop commandoes" back in the 1980's and now they face a lot of ****:

Eyewitness News
NASSAU COUNTY (WABC) -- An undercover investigation into the sale of assault weapons at gun shops throughout Nassau County resulted in the arrests of five store owners and four of their employees.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced the results of the 10-month probe Thursday afternoon.
Under New York State law, only police officers, peace officers, and duly authorized members of the military are legally permitted to possess assault weapons. One category of an assault weapon is defined as a semi-automatic rifle with the ability to accept a magazine carrying more than five rounds of ammunition and that must also have at least two additional characteristics. These additional characteristics can include a folding or telescoping stock, a protruding pistol grip, a bayonette mount, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor, or a grenade launcher.

Related Content
MORE: Contact the WABC-TV Long Island Bureau
Rice said that shop owners were breaking the law by temporarily modifying the weapons to appear as though they lacked the required characteristics of an assault weapon. However, the temporary modification was easily reversible, thereby making them full-fledged assault weapons. For example, a pin was placed in the stock of a weapon in an attempt to prevent its collapse. However, the pins were designed to be easily removable making the stock collapsible.

Rice said that one defendant, Martin Tretola, 55, of Bellmore, and the owner of T&T Tactical in New Hyde Park and T&T Gunnery in Seaford, went so far as to demonstrate to undercover officers how to remove the temporary pin from the fixed stock making it collapsible. Both T&T Gunnery and Hunter Sports were on notice that civilians who purchased these weapons from their stores had been arrested and charged with illegal possession of an assault weapon in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, but they continued to sell these weapons.
"The nine men arrested today were openly breaking the law, making a practice of putting profits before the safety of our citizens, and flooding our streets with dangerous assault weapons," Rice said. "Make no mistake, these are combat-specific weapons and not intended for hunting. They have no place on our streets or in the hands of civilians."
Tretola, the owner of two gun shops in Nassau County, is charged with Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the Second Degree, Unlawfully Disposing of an Assault Weapon, and a misdemeanor violation of the Firearms Licensing Provisions. T&T Tactical was charged with Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the First and Second Degrees. Tretola faces up to15 years in prison. His Seaford business, T&T Gunnery, has been charged with Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the First and Second Degrees. His New Hyde Park business, T&T Tactical, along with the following defendants and businesses are charged with Unlawfully Disposing of an Assault Weapon and a misdemeanor violation of the Firearms Licensing Provision. Each individual defendant faces up to seven years in prison and each business faces up to a $10,000 fine per felony or double the company's gain from the criminal conduct.
- Mark Wroobel, 40, of Smithtown. Wroobel and his business, Hunter Sports in Massapequa, are both charged with two counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and two misdemeanor violations of Firearms Licensing provisions. Wroobel is due back in court February 25 and is represented by Michael Villeck, Esq.
- Andrew Chernoff, 50, of Malverne. Chernoff and his business, Coliseum Gun Traders, LTD in Uniondale, are both charged with Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and a misdemeanor violation of Firearms Licensing provisions. Chernoff is due back in court March 2 and is represented by Stephen Wade LaMagna, Esq.
- Carmine Rotondo, 68, of Garden City. Rotondo, an employee of Coliseum Gun Traders, LTD, is charged with Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and a misdemeanor violation of Firearms Licensing provisions.
- Michael Marinello, 41, of East Meadow. Marinello and his business, South Shore Sportsman in Merrick, are both charged with two counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and two misdemeanor violations of Firearms Licensing provisions. Marinello is due back in court February 22 and is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County.
Four of Martin Tretola's employees were also charged as follows:
- Thomas Tretola, 24, of Bellmore. Thomas Tretola, an employee of T&T Gunnery in Seaford and Martin Tretola's son, is charged with two counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and a misdemeanor violation of Firearms Licensing provisions. T&T Gunnery is also charged and is owned by Martin Tretola. Tretola is due back in court February 22 and is represented by Charles Horn, Esq.
- Stuart Sansevino, 59, of North Babylon. Sansevino, an employee of T&T Gunnery, is charged with three counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and 12 misdemeanor violations of Firearms Licensing provisions. Sansevino is due back in court February 22 and is represented by Dave Gallison, Esq.
- Hank Greenberg, 32, of Oceanside. Greenberg, an employee of T&T Gunnery, is charged with three counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and three misdemeanor violations of Firearms Licensing provisions.
- Morgan Owens, 22, of West Islip. Owens, an employee of T&T Tactical, is charged with one count of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition, Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances and a misdemeanor violation of Firearms Licensing provisions. Owens is due back in court February 22 and is represented by Dave Gallison, Esq

X-NewYawker

02-19-2011, 5:43 PM

Notice the emphasis from the DA that, "Make no mistake, these are combat-specific weapons and not intended for hunting. They have no place on our streets or in the hands of civilians."

I thought we had rulings that the 2nd amendment was not about hunting?
Friends in NY have forwarded me other articles on how the DA has been looking to bust gun stores there.

dieselpower

02-19-2011, 5:51 PM

Can't happen here. Its already been up the chain. Been down this road before. We are very lucky our laws were written a certain way and the CA government functions a certain way.

On a side note, in some States the AG can not regulate firearms laws in any way shape or form, as our AG does.

smle-man

02-19-2011, 5:51 PM

I also noticed they don't know how to spell 'bayonet'. There are a lot of prosecutors out there who care nothing at all that a gun owner is a good guy or gal, veteran, upstanding citizen, father, husband, wife, mother, or any other label. They will hammer the person into the ground, take everything they own, humiliate them, convict them to the maximum extent of the law, and move on without looking back. Don't play fast and loose with any gun laws. You will lose!

n2k

02-19-2011, 5:53 PM

I was wondering if you ever dealt with them.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=398377

dieselpower

02-19-2011, 5:53 PM

I also noticed they don't know how to spell 'bayonet'. There are a lot of prosecutors out there who care nothing at all that a gun owner is a good guy or gal, veteran, upstanding citizen, father, husband, wife, mother, or any other label. They will hammer the person into the ground, take everything they own, humiliate them, convict them to the maximum extent of the law, and move on without looking back. Don't play fast and loose with any gun laws. You will lose!

agreed, and we are allowed to own firearms that can be easily modified into illegal firearms. Its the law.

Im Broken

02-19-2011, 6:14 PM

East coast= no care

Super Spy

02-19-2011, 6:18 PM

On the up side, if this ends up in front of SCOTUS, we could have a valuable tool for fighting fascist gun control laws.

JamminJ

02-19-2011, 6:30 PM

Sad. I bought a Czech Mauser from T&T in Seaford in the early 90s. It was a fun shop.

RobGR

02-19-2011, 8:06 PM

That really is a waste of lives. What bothers me, besides the supreme act of scapegoating a few to make a public example of them, is that the undercovers were probably acting like possible buyers, pushing for reasons why not to buy the firearm b/c it did not have the attributes of an "illegal" or that of a correctly functioning firearm, as we, who support the 2nd Amnd, would call it. Thus a storeowner would show them, "look, this can be converted back if the laws were to change and our 2nd Amnd rights were honored." Punish business owners and citizens but not criminals, great.

“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

X-NewYawker

02-20-2011, 11:44 AM

That really is a waste of lives. What bothers me, besides the supreme act of scapegoating a few to make a public example of them, is that the undercovers were probably acting like possible buyers, pushing for reasons why not to buy the firearm b/c it did not have the attributes of an "illegal" or that of a correctly functioning firearm, as we, who support the 2nd Amnd, would call it. Thus a storeowner would show them, "look, this can be converted back if the laws were to change and our 2nd Amnd rights were honored." Punish business owners and citizens but not criminals, great.

That is the point -- I see smaller local shops thinking they're being helpful explaining the law and undercover dweebs using it to say they were "encouraging" them to break the law, bringing in their inventory, incurring legal fees...

I don't know if ANY of this NY stuff will stick -- it all sounds beatable, but the fact that even knowing that, the DA went to all this trouble -- I was with people form Long Island in Hollywood last night and they said she is known as an idiot.

ElvenSoul

02-20-2011, 11:50 AM

They did do this here...remember that Pawn Store in the IE...they won there case and reopened.